F2P Summit: Free-to-play will 'drive quality' for the king consumer, says David Darling

Speaking during a 'fireside chat' with none other than PocketGamer.biz editor-at-large Jon Jordan, Codemasters founder David Darling took time to wave the free-to-play flag at the F2P Summit in London.

Now founder of mobile studio Kwalee, Darling dismissed the notion that the free-to-play model delivers gameplay devised purely to squeeze money out of players.

Rather, it will eventually lead to better quality releases.

King consumer

"The consumer is king with free-to-play, but they're not spending money, they're spending time," opened Darling.

"That is going to really drive developers to focus on quality their time is limited - and that hasn't always been the case in the past.

"With console games, people often got sidetracked by distribution and stock control, etc. But with mobile, when I talk about better quality, I mean more innovation."

Darling said Kwalee's first two games Gobang Social and Pussy Flip have been a learning experience, with each new game amassing more downloads during the same timescale than its predecessor.

With one of Kwalee's new games one of a total of five currently in development Darling added the firm is planning to "revolutionise mutliplayer", as "playing with friends is often better than playing alone."